The Catcher in the Rye: A Chronological Timeline of Events

1
The Catcher in the Rye A Chronological Timeline
of Events
2
Chapter 1 Saturday Midday

• 300 PM - Watches football game, Pencey vs. Saxon
  Hall
• - Watching from Revolutionary War cannon
• - Introduces D.B. Hollywood writer (Holden
  thinks he sold out
• to Hollywood).
• - Decides to Visit Mr. Spencer

I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on
the goddamn subway. It wasnt all my fault.
(Salinger 3).
3
Chapter 2

• Visits Mr. Spencer
• - Mr. Spencer talks to Holden about his
  academics, and reads Holdens paper to Holden.
• - Holden loses interest after Mr. Spencer
  begins lecturing him about discipline. Gets
  annoyed and leaves.

But I just couldnt hang around there any
longer, the way we were on opposite sides of the
pole, and the way he kept missing the bed
whenever he chucked something at it, and his sad
old bathrobe with his chest showing, and the
grippy smell of Vicks Nose Drops all over the
place (Salinger 15).
4
Chapter 3

• Returns to dorm in Ossenburger Hall,
• - Begins reading Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
• Robert Ackley introduced
• - Described as peculiar and has more pimples
  than he should
• Stradlater enters and mentions he has a date.
• - Ackley leaves after Stradlater comes in

They always looked mossy and awful, and he damn
near made you sick if you saw him in the dining
room with his mouth full of mashed potatoes and
peas or something. Besides that, he had a lot of
pimples (Salinger 19).
5
Chapter 4

• Stradlater asks Holden to write a descriptive
  paper while he is on his date.
• - Compares Ackleys and Stradlaters hygiene
• - Holden uneasy that Stradlater has date with
  Jane Gallagher.
• - Wants to greet Jane, but doesnt.

He was always asking you to do him a big favor.
You take a very handsome guy, or a guy that
thinks hes a real hot-shot, and theyre always
asking you to do them a favor (Salinger 27).
6
Chapter 5 Saturday After Dinner

• Mal Brossard, a wrestler, introduced, and Holden
  along with Ackley go to movies with him.
• - Ackley and Brossard already have seen it, and
  they eat, play some pinball, and hang out.

You shouldve seen the steaks. They were a
little hard, dry jobs that you could hardly even
cut. You always got very lumpy mashed potatoes on
steak night, and for dessert you got Brown Betty,
which no body ate (Salinger 35).

• After returning at 845, Holden begins the
  composition, finishes at 1030.

7
Chapter 6

• Stradlater returns around 1100 PM.
• - Stradlater unhappy at Holdens topic for the
  composition, Holden tears it up.
• - Pesters Stradlater about date with Jane
  Gallagher, Stradlater refuses to answer.
• - Holden strikes, gets pinned, continues
  insulting, until Stradlater lands one on the face.

It probably hurt him a little bit, but not as
much as I wanted. It probably wouldve hurt him a
lot, but I did it with my right hand, and I cant
make a good fist with that hand. On account of
the injury I told you about (Salinger 43).
8
Chapter 7

• Holden goes to spend night with Ackley.
• - Cannot sleep, decides to leave Pencey and not
  wait until Wednesday.

All of a sudden, I decided what Id really do,
Id get the hell out of Pencey (Salinger 51).
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Chapter 8 Very Late Saturday/Early Sunday
Morning

• Holden walks to train station to go to New York
  City.
• At a stop at Trenton, a woman boards the train.
• - She notices the Pencey Prep sticker, and asks
  Holden if he knows Ernie Morrow, her son.
• - Tells lies about Ernie, tells her his name in
  Rudolf Schmidt, and says he has a brain tumor,
  and is leaving early for surgery.

She had nice voice. A nice telephone voice,
mostly. She shouldve carried a goddamn telephone
around with her (Salinger 54).
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Chapter 9

• Arrives at Penn Station
• - Wants to call someone, sister Phoebe probably
  asleep, brother D.B. in Hollywood, does not feel
  like calling Jane Gallagher, and Sally Hayess
  mother hates him. Takes cab to Edmont hotel,
  looks out window and sees people doing strange
  things in courtyard, thinks of Faith Cavendish,
  who he calls to set up a date, but she offers for
  tomorrow, and Holden hangs up.

Then I thought about calling up this guy that
went to the Whooton School when I was there, Carl
Luce, but I didnt like him much (Salinger 59).
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Chapter 10

• Lavender Room nightclub at Edmont Hotel
• - Tries to order alcohol his height and grey
  hair usually allow him to do this
• - Makes small talk and dances with 3 women from
  Seattle they are uninterested in him he
  leaves after paying for drinks

They probably thought I was too young to give
anybody the once-over. That annoyed hell out of
me youdve thought I wanted to marry them or
something (Salinger 70).
12
Chapter 11

• Recollects about Jane Gallagher
• - Summer homes in Maine were next door, and met
  when his mother went to talk to them about their
  Doberman laying waste on their lawn.
• - They were close, he showed her the baseball
  glove, comforted her, etc.

When she was talking she got excited about
something, her mouth sort of went in fifty
directions, her lips and all. That killed me. And
she never really closed it all the way, her
mouth (Salinger 77).
13
Chapter 12

• Takes cab to Greenwich Village nightclub called
  Ernies

- Listens to Ernie play piano, drinks scotch and
soda, meets Lilian Simmons (D.B. used to date
her), leaves to get away from her.
- Talks to cab driver, Horwitz, about ducks among
other things.
Wed get into a goddam movie or something, and
right away wed start holding hands, and we
wouldnt quit till the movie was over (Salinger
79).
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Chapter 13

• Walks 41 blocks back to hotel
• In elevator, operator offers to send prostitute
  for 5 dollars and Holden accepts
• Sunny arrives, and Holden just wants to talk, and
  after seeing her disinterest, he gives 5 dollars
  and tells her to leave, although Sunny says its
  a 10 dollar charge.

The trouble was, I just didnt want to do it. I
felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to
know the truth. She was depressing (Salinger 96).
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Chapter 14 Early Sunday Morning

• Smokes and reminisces about Allie
• Maurice returns and pins Holden to wall, and
  allows Sunny to get 5 more dollars, punches
  Holden in stomach.
• Imagines taking revenge, and finally goes to
  sleep.

Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you
cant imagine. What I did, I started talking,
sort of out loud, to Allie (Salinger 98).
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Chapter 15 Morning 1000 AM

• Calls Sally Hayes in morning to set up date for
  200 PM.
• Eats sandwich at bar, sees nuns, talks with them
  about Romeo and Juliet
• Donates 10 dollars to them, and realizes he needs
  money for date

"You think they're intelligent and all, the other
person, and have a good sense of humor, that they
don't give a damn whose suitcases are better, but
they do." (Salinger 109).
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Chapter 16 After Breakfast

• Goes down Broadway
• - Picks up Little Shirley Beans for Phoebe,
  and buys tickets for show called I Know My Love.
• Travels to ice skating rink to see if Phoebe is
  there.
• Goes to Museum of Natural History, sees models of
  Eskimos and Indians, etc.

"If Phoebe had been there, I probably would have,
but she wasn't" (Salinger 122).
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Chapter 17

• 200 PM, Holden to Biltmore Hotel to meet Sally,
  who is late, arriving at 210 PM
• - After cab ride and show, they go ice skating
  at Rockefeller Center
• - Holden begins to rant about phonies and
  that they should run away together, leaves
  without Sally

"You never saw so many phonies in all your life,
everybody smoking their ears off and talking
about the play so that everybody could hear and
know how sharp they were" (Salinger 126).
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Chapter 18 Early Evening

• Goes to drugstore and has sandwich and malted
  milk
• Calls Carl Luce, decide to meet later that night
• - Goes to see a show at Radio City Music
  Center - Makes way to Wicker bar

"The part that got me was, there was a lady
sitting next to me that cried all through the
goddam picture. The phonier it got, the more she
cried. You'd have thought she was kindhearted as
hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and
she wasn't. She had this little kid with her..."
(Salinger 139).
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Chapter 19 1000 PM

• Meets Carl Luce
• - Pesters him about subjects Carl does not want
  to bring up, and Luce gets annoyed and questions
  his mental health.
• - Luce leaves after being annoyed too much.

"You still going around with that same babe you
used to at Whooton? The one with the terrific-"
(Salinger 144).
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Chapter 20

• Holden stays at bar and gets drunk.
• - Calls Sally, insists on talking to her after
  grandmother says she is asleep.
• - Leaves a bad impression after they are unable
  to understand his slurred speech
• - Tries to make date with lounge singer
  Valencia and then hat-check girl, who is very
  nice to him
• - Goes to Central Park to see ducks.
• - Running low on money, decides to visit Phoebe.

"Witty bastard. All I ever meet is witty
bastards" (Salinger 152).
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Chapter 21 Middle of Evening

• Sneaks into home, finds Phoebe in D.B.s room
• - Phoebe is excited and starts talking about
  recent news in her life, realizes Holden has been
  expelled
• - Holden leaves to get cigarettes.

"She's very affectionate. I mean she's quite
affectionate, for a child. Sometimes she's even
too affectionate. I sort of gave her a kiss"
(Salinger 161).
23
Chapter 22

• Comes back and gets Phoebe to listen to what he
  has to say
• - Holden speaks what will probably happen to
  him when his parents find out he was expelled.
  (Military school)
• - Phoebe asks him what he wants to do with his
  life, and he mentions lyrics about being catcher
  in the rye
• - Phoebe tells him he misquoted a song.

"Allie's dead- You always say that! If
somebody's dead and everything, and in Heaven,
then it isn't really-" (Salinger 171).
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Chapter 23

• Calls Mr. Antolini who was Holdens teacher at
  Elkton Hills, and is shocked that Holden had been
  expelled again, tells Holden he can stay the
  night.
• - He dances with Phoebe, parents come home, he
  waves smoke away, hides in closet as phoebe is
  tucked in by mother.
• - Phoebe gives Christmas money she was saving
  (A whopping 8.75), and Holden gives her red
  hunting hat.

In between numbers she's funny as hell. She
stays right in position. She won't even talk or
anything. You have to stay in position and wait
for the orchestra to start playing again"
(Salinger 175).
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Chapter 24
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to
die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature
man is he wants to live humbly for one" (Salinger
188).

• Holden arrives at Mr. Antolinis house, after
  they are done with a dinner party
• Begin speaking of Holdens downfall as a student,
  coffee from Mrs. Antolini breaks tension
• Holden wakes up and Mr. Antolini is stroking his
  head, which scares Holden and he leaves.

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Chapter 25 Monday Morning

• Spends night at Grand Central Station wakes up at
  9 AM, and decides to hitchhike west
• - Goes to Phoebes school and leaves a note for
  her to meet him at Museum of Art
• - Holden guides kids to mummies, Phoebe arrives
  with suitcase, wants to go with Holden
• - Holden says hes not going anywhere, Phoebe
  gives hat back angrily
• Travels to zoo, where makes his final decision
  that he will not leave leave, and Phoebe and him
  are at peace again.

"I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy,
if you want to know the truth. It was just that
she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going
around and around, in her blue coat and all.
God, I wish you could've been there" (Salinger
213).
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Chapter 26 Some Time in the Immediate Future

• In rest home, tells he will be enrolling in
  school again in the Fall.

- He has no opinion on everything that happened
throughout the story.

• He misses people he met during his adventures.

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Sources

• Newman, Gary. Garrys Mod. 6 April. 2006. Team
  Garry. 14 January
• 2007. lthttp//gmod.garry.tvgt.
• Newell, Gabe. "Steam." 31 Oct. 1996. Valve
  Corporation. 14 Jan. 2007 ltwww.steampowered.comgt.
  
• Salinger J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston
  Little, Brown, and
• Company. 1951.